TRSA Members Benefit Industry, Get Kick from Hill Day
TRSA’s 12th Annual Legislative Conference closed on March 31 in Washington with nearly 80 in-person and virtual meetings with federal legislators and key members of their staff, exhibiting members’ dedication to advancing the association’s advocacy agenda.
Citing their industry’s performance through the pandemic, they articulated how the nation would benefit if government would:
- Enable workers to be properly protected by compelling businesses to balance their use of reusable textile personal protective equipment (PPE) with disposable equivalents
- Maximize infection prevention by requiring uniform wearers to change at work and linen/uniform services to process their garments
- Improve public health by giving the industry priority in the restoration of public utilities in the wake of natural disasters, extending the essential industry designation the industry received in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic to such disasters
These apply to the industry’s services to any type of business. But TRSA members who serve all markets used their annual Hill Day to advance this agenda largely for the industry’s service to hospitals. Members called for legislation that would ensure these facilities maintain a 50/50 balance of reusable and disposable PPE and prompt wearers of scrubs to leave these at work; and for the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) to give the industry high priority because its hygienically clean textiles protect first responders and support their efforts to save lives.
Members emerged from the meetings satisfied with the reception they received in congressional offices; none indicated they faced resistance to concepts they presented. To some degree they benefited from increased willingness to personally interact on Capitol Hill. Only recently have many of these offices reopened following lifting of tight security protocols largely due to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, although many still took only virtual meetings and cited COVID-19 concerns.
Briefing the 40-plus member contingent before they bussed from the conference hotel to the Hill, Joseph Ricci, TRSA president and CEO, and Kevin Schwalb, government relations VP, urged first-time participants to relax. It would be enjoyable – a chance to present the industry and discuss serious matters, but not pressure-filled. Either virtually or in-person, members in small groups (as many as four individuals) would visit legislators and their staffs either in-person or virtually.
For Liz Remillong, business development VP, Crothall Laundry Services, the experience was surprisingly fun. She had one of the six meetings with legislators (as opposed to their staff) randomly with her home district House of Representatives member, Rep. David Schweikert (AZ-6). They encountered each other when Schweikert became available during her meeting with his staffer Caroline Oakum.
The legislator and constituent shared laughs regarding the vulnerability of the district’s neighborhoods to wildlife [javelina (boar) and coyotes] and even got a quick lesson in “scorpion hunting.” Schweikert asked great questions about the industry’s need for large-scale automation and resulting substantial capital commitment. She pointed out that linen and uniform service operators price their services to recoup such investment as soon as possible. “He seemed genuinely interested in it,” Remillong observed of the congressman’s questions.
Members sought to advance their PPE and wash-at-work agendas through the Prepare for and Respond to Existing Viruses, Emerging New Threats, and Pandemics Act (PREVENT Pandemics Act), which may reach the Senate floor in June. Neither provision is included in that measure, but it’s anticipated that a companion measure will emerge in the House that can incorporate them.
Regarding priority for the industry’s operations in disasters, TRSA seeks to gain such status through the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) appropriations process. FEMA would be compelled to designate linen and uniform services as an essential industry to restore their operations in the case of catastrophes such as hurricanes and tornadoes to ensure the safe processing of healthcare textiles and other PPE to keep workers and the public safe.